Autoheart

Autoheart are a London-based indie-pop group formed in 2011 - featuring founder members Jody Gadsden, vocals, Simon Neilson, piano and keys, with Barney JC, guitar, and David Roman, drums. The group formerly recorded under the name The Gadsdens.

History

Jody and Simon met and formed The Gadsdens in 2007 after collaborating on a song for a short film soundtrack. The band's debut single, “The Sailor Song”, released in 2009, was championed by Bob Harris on his BBC Radio 2 Show ^[1] and was “Single of the Week” on Shaun Keaveny’s BBC 6 Music radio show.^[2] The single release was accompanied by an animated music video ^[3] by London-based animator and director Gavin Leisfield.

The Gadsdens appeared on The Radcliffe and Maconie BBC Radio 2 show on 17 Nov 2009 performing 3 tracks; “The Sailor Song”, “Too Polite To Fight” and “Agoraphobia”.^[4]

Maconie and Radcliffe have continued to play “The Sailor Song” on their show. They also placed the band’s live version of “The Sailor Song” on their “Best Live Sessions of 2009” end of year list.^[5] In response to the news that the BBC plan to cut Radcliffe and Maconie’s radio show from 4 nights a week to three, Marc Lee from Telegraph mentions The Gadsdens, commenting “I heard what proved to be my favourite songs of both 2008 and 2009 for the first time on the show – The Last of the Melting Snow by the Leisure Society and The Sailor Song by the Gadsdens, both of them strange and gorgeous”.^[6]

Q Magazine made “The Sailor Song “ their Track of day, citing; “ A Charming and pulsating piece of piano pop that holds no surprises, tempo shifts or digital tweaks, it’s naturally sentimental, sending strong links to Tracy Chapman, mostly due to the vocal style of frontman Jody Gadsden”.^[7]

The band were also featured in the Guardian’s “The Measure” as one’s to watch: “The Gadsdens New band alert. The Sailor Song is heaven. Head to Myspace quickest-smartest” ^[8] and MTV labeled the band as “Exquisite, outsider pop”.^[9]

The Gadsdens announced^[10] on 24 August 2011 they had 'evolved' and were to be known going forward as Autoheart. On the same day, they posted a cover recording of 'Ordinary Fool'^[11] on YouTube. The song was originally included on the Bugsy Malone soundtrack.

The band were featured as The Guardian's New Band of the Day on 9 July 2013. Gadsden's vocal style was likened to that of Anohni and Andy Bell.^[12] Autoheart's sound was compared to Kodaline and Dexy's Midnight Runners.

Autoheart's debut album 'Punch' was released on 15 July 2013 on O/R Records. 'Punch' was produced by Danton Supple who has previously worked with Morrissey and Coldplay. The album was preceded by 3 singles: 'Control' (5 November 2012), 'Lent' (11 February 2013) and double A-side single 'Moscow/Agoraphobia' (8 July 2013).

An album of previously unheard tracks was released on 30 May 2014 under the title 'Demos'.

The band's official follow up to their debut album 'Punch' titled 'I Can Build A Fire' was released 26 August 2016.

Discography

References